Field of the Disclosure
Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure relate to a smart access point apparatus and a method for controlling an IoT (Internet of Things) apparatus using the smart access point apparatus.
Discussion of the Background
Internet of Things (namely, IoT) is a new form evolving from conventional USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) or M2M (Machine to Machine). A main object of conventional M2M is the communication of end-devices with humans. A main object of IoT is to enable communication of things such as telephones, books, thermometers with humans. Specifically, the IoT may mean a things-space internet network which cooperatively forms intelligent relations among three diverse environmental factors including people, things and services, without human explicit intervention.
Besides such IoT, various concepts and technologies such as WoT (Web of Things) and WoO (Web of Objects) are under study and development. With development and distribution of such concepts and technologies, it is expected that use of devices (e.g., gadget devices, sensor devices and actuators) giving users easy access to the internet will increase.
As the IoT environment has come, there is a growing need to introduce a service for controlling various IoT devices in a specific spatial environment. For instance, a user has to control setting for temperatures, ventilation, luminance, sound and the like based on a purpose of use, in case of a conference room in a smart building.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an IoT environment in a prior art. It is shown in FIG. 1 that various IoT devices are provided in a specific spatial environment. At this time, a user 120 can control special services after accessed to special services associated with a smart lightening through a device possessed by the user 120 to control an IoT device such as a smart lightening.
However, in the prior art, each of spatial environments are provided (e.g., a home, an office, a conference room and the like). Considering that various IoT devices are provided in each of the spatial environments, it is quite inconvenient for users to access to each of the special services provided to each of the IoT devices.
Moreover, there are only closed and vertical relations between the user's device and each of the IoT devices but insufficient information about the space of the devices. For instance, the prior art uses only a relation between a first IoT device and the user's device and a relation between a second IoT device and the user's device, failing to recognize whether the first IoT device and the second IoT device are provided in the same space (e.g., one of offices). However, the associated and/or integrated control for an air conditioner and a humidifier is required in one space, for instance.